Dissonance
by MewShiny
Summary: Months after the game between Megumi and Joshua, Neku meets Joshua again under some unsettling circumstances and Joshua asks for his help in what will undoubtedly be another difficult situation.
1. Kill me

**A/N: I've been playing TWEWY a lot lately so I suppose this was only inevitable. It's not a time travel story or anything from my usual genre pool so please bear with me. Plus it's in third person... don't know why, it just is, I'm better with writing in first but for some unknown reason it just seemed to work better in third.  
Those of you who've read my stories before might know that I suck at writing villains, this time I've got a bit of help from my boyfriend Blintz Neotech (which is obviously not his real name) with the bad guy, he hasn't shown up yet but still figured I'd go ahead and credit him at the beginning.**

**Naturally I do not own TWEWY, it belongs to... well other people. Thank you in advance for reading, and I ask that you please review.**

...

It was a quiet night in Udagawa.

Months had already passed since Neku had found himself caught up in the game played between Shibuya's Conductor and Composer, and naturally things had calmed down considerably, his life had completely returned to normal. No more playing the reaper's game, no more fighting noise, no more threat of erasure, everything seemed to have become exactly as it should be.

Neku sat on the couch alone in his apartment. The ending credits of his favorite TV show were playing, he grabbed the remote and turned off the TV as he began to yawn.

He got up and began to walk to his room, planning to go to bed so he wouldn't be tired when he went to see Shiki for a date the next day. Then he heard a knock on the door, or really it was more like a loud thump from the general vicinity of the door.

He wasn't sure why anyone would be coming by so late at night but he went to answer the door regardless and was surprised to see Joshua (Yoshiya Kiriyu) leaning on the outside door frame clutching his side. Joshua started to fall through the door way, Neku managed to catch him and carried his old partner to the couch.

"What's going on..." Neku asked before realizing that Joshua had fallen unconscious. He moved his friend's hand and saw a large gash, Joshua was bleeding quite a bit. Neku couldn't help but wonder what could have injured him like this, after all Joshua was the composer... he was the most powerful person in all of Shibuya, the mere thought of someone powerful enough to injure him was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

Joshua began to stir a bit as Neku pressed a damp cloth against his wound. He wished that he could have just used a pin's psyche to heal him but of course that wouldn't work in the RG, instead he would have to settle for bandages like a normal person.

A few minutes after Neku had finally managed to at least stop the bleeding Joshua started to come to.

"Finally awake?" Neku asked, another yawn managing to escape Neku's mouth.

"You were worried about me? I must be dreaming," Joshua said as he sat up, he winced a bit which proved to Neku that the cut on his side was every bit as painful as it looked.

"This is no time for jokes! What the heck happened to you?!" Neku shouted. He hated how casual Joshua was about everything, he always seemed to have that same smile on his face regardless of the situation. Joshua's smile flickered just a bit, turning serious.

"Someone was trying to kill me, I had to escape to the RG to get away..." Joshua trailed off.

Even if Neku already suspected that Joshua's injury wasn't an accident it only worried Neku even more to hear. After all, not only was this person powerful enough to injure the composer, they made him retreat... this was sounding worse and worse. Neku couldn't keep a hint of panic out of his voice as he asked, "Who was trying to kill you?"

Joshua seemed hesitant to give the details, he sighed, "The composer of a neighboring district in the UG. He's trying to increase the area he has power over, if he killed me he would have become Shibuya's composer... that's his goal."

So it had been another composer, Neku could understand that, after all he knew that there were multiple sections in the UG so it only made sense that each section had it's own composer and reaper's game going on. It was only logical that at some point there would be an especially ambitious composer that would want to expand his territory if there could be composers like Joshua who would randomly decide they wanted to destroy their section of the UG.

"Don't worry," Joshua continued with a little laugh as though he still found the idea that Neku would worry about him amusing, "I made sure he wouldn't be able to follow me... and he shouldn't be able to recognize me how I look in the RG anyway. I'm not going to get you involved without asking first this time."

Neku was a bit surprised by Joshua's last statement, "What do you mean?"

"Last time I forced it on you..." He paused, "This time I'm asking you, please help me."

Neku wasn't sure what he was expected to say to something like that.

Joshua had _killed_ Neku last time he needed his help, he'd gotten him caught up in a life or death game with what he valued most on the line as well as the entirety of Shibuya (though Neku hadn't known at the time that at the time). It hadn't been fun... but Neku was thankful for those three weeks, because they'd made him see the merit of being together with other people regardless of differences. If it hadn't been for Joshua, Neku probably would have never made any friends, at least he'd have never met Shiki, Beat, or Rhyme.

Neku paused for moment to think before saying anything, then he smiled, "You're my friend, I'm not sure what I could do to help, but count me in."

Joshua hesitated, which only served to worry Neku even more. In the time Neku had known him (though it was only a week) Joshua had always seemed to speak his mind, sure, Neku now knew that in all that time Joshua was probably just thinking about how to win his own game with Kitaniji Megumi and probably wasn't speaking his mind at all, but he at least had never looked so openly uncertain about anything as he did right now.

"What is it?" Neku asked, "What can I do to help you?"

Joshua looked directly into Neku's eye's for a moment before finally responding.

"I want you to kill me."

It took a second before Neku had fully processed what his old partner had just said, but once he had he couldn't quite contain himself, "What?! What good would that do?! That would just-"

"If you killed me you would be Shibuya's composer instead," Joshua interrupted, "If it's you, I don't think I'd mind dying."

"I'm not going to kill you! Why would I even want to be the composer after everything that's happened?" Neku replied, unable to stop himself from raising his voice.

Neku didn't understand, what point would there be? How would it be a help in any way for Neku to become the composer of Shibuya? Even if Joshua had been the one who'd killed him, even if it were for such a terrible reason as to fight the person who wanted to save Shibuya from destruction, but he'd never wanted revenge... Neku didn't want to kill Joshua.

"I know you don't want to. Don't you get it? That's why it should be you," Joshua responded, his expression was strange, he didn't seem like the same cocky kid who'd dragged him all around Shibuya and ultimately managed to turn his life around, he seemed worried and that worried Neku. It was obvious that Joshua was hiding something, "Just think about it okay...?"

"Yeah okay..." Neku said without much conviction, yawning again he added, "We can talk more in the morning."

"If you say so Neku," Joshua replied, Neku could tell he knew he had no intention of ever considering killing him, but he just casually went about getting himself into a more comfortable position to sleep on the couch.

Neku muttered 'goodnight' under his breath and went on to his room, he didn't ever bother to change into pajamas and just flopped onto his bed.


	2. Hide n' seek

**A/N:  
I apologize for taking so long (especially for a chapter this short) but here we have it, the second chapter, stuff starts to happen and we get the first appearance of our villain.  
I know that in fanfic OCs are generally not liked because they'll tend to be Mary-sue/Gary-stu but I'm going to try and keep mine from getting too out of hand besides I couldn't exactly just use a bad guy from the original game I needed someone from somewhere else.  
I thank Saku-san, Queen Weirdo-san, and Syn'ph-san who reviewed the previous chapter.  
Naturally I do not own TWEWY, it belongs to... well other people. Thank you in advance for reading, and I ask that you please review.**

...

The ringing of his cell phone was what woke woke Neku up.

Sleepily he reached for the phone, not even getting out from under the covers.

"...Hello...?" Neku spoke groggily into the phone.

"Neku! Where are you!" shouted a familiar feminine voice, "We promised to meet up an hour ago didn't we?"

"Eh... What time is it?" Neku took the phone away from his ear for a second to look at the time, waking up instantly as he came to realize that he was indeed late, "Oh crap! Sorry a bunch of stuff happened last night and... never mind, we were meeting up at the usual place right? I'll be there in a few minutes."

"`Kay see ya soon," Shiki replied happily.

Neku promptly hung up and threw together a reasonably cool looking outfit (sure he wasn't quite so fashionable as Shiki but he'd learned a few things since meeting her), making sure to put on deodorant to make up for the fact that he hadn't taken a shower.

For a moment he considered waking up Joshua who was still asleep on the couch but he figured that whatever had happened between him and the other composer probably left him pretty tired so it was probably better for him to sleep a while longer, Neku left a note explaining where he was going along with a roll of bandages in case he felt like changing them when he woke up.

And with that Neku was out the door.

He soon arrived at their usual meeting place, which was of course the statue of Hachiko. Shiki had gone into the nearby accessory shop to wait since Neku had been late, though as soon as she noticed him in front of Hachiko she ran out and gave him a hug.

"What took you so long Neku?" She said with a smile, giggling a bit as she released him from her hug.

Even though it had been months Neku still found it weird recognizing the girl with short black hair and round-rimmed glassed as Shiki Misaki, after all when he'd met her she had longer pink hair, a different style entirely and even a different voice. But there was no denying that it was her, his first partner and friend, his second entry fee, and now his girlfriend.

"I kinda overslept," He answered honestly, smiling a bit, "I didn't go to bed until late, I guess I was trying to make up for it or something by getting up late too."

Shiki seemed curious, "Did something happen?"

Neku felt like it'd be a bad idea to tell Shiki the details of what happened the previous night. It wasn't that he felt he couldn't tell her, rather he didn't want her to worry that something strange was happening in Shibuya again, even if it was true. So without missing a beat he replied, "Nothing, really."

Shiki didn't quite seem to believe him entirely but she dropped the subject and the two continued to hang out without mentioning it.

...

Joshua, on the other hand, woke with a start. Jolting upright on the couch at such a speed that it reopened his wounds after some ill omened nightmare had come to a close.

For a moment he had forgotten where he was so he looked around and soon remembered that he was at Neku's house as well as why he'd come. He quickly read over the note that Neku had left.

_"I'm going out for a bit to hang out with Shiki, I'll be back before it gets too late. Make your self at home while I'm gone, help yourself to anything in the fridge. Don't forget to change your bandages, I think your supposed to do that to prevent infections or something.  
-Neku"_

"He must not have been too worried, to leave me alone without getting a proper explanation first," He muttered under his breath. He quickly followed Neku's advice and wrapped new bandages around his injury.

The cut was better than it had been when he'd first received it, but it still looked rather worrisome. Joshua wished that he could have used his powers and healed it himself, but he couldn't heal this kind of wound when he was in the RG his power was too limited and if he returned to the UG now the person who'd injured him in the first place would be able to find him again and attempt to finish the job. For the time being his best bet was to just tough it out like any normal person would... and try to get Neku to help him.

Even if Joshua had asked Neku to kill him it wasn't that Joshua particularly wanted to die, but that he didn't really know what else to do with his life. He'd grown tired of being Shibuya's composer, it was about time that he passed the role on to someone else, but he didn't really have much of anything to go back to after he left. The idea of death was just a convenient escape from deciding what he would do once he couldn't be composer anymore.

He knew Neku wouldn't go for it though. If that's what he really wanted he'd have to trick Neku into killing him even though for Neku to become the composer really all he had to do was 'defeat' Joshua... which of course wouldn't be easy, Joshua always played to win. Not that Neku was likely to agree to playing any kind of game with Joshua when the last one had involved shooting each other.

"I suppose I'll just have to be the composer for a while longer," Joshua chuckled to himself.

...

It was getting to be early afternoon and neither Shiki or Neku could deny that they had each heard the other's stomach growl at least once so they decided to stop at ramen don for a quick lunch before doing anything else. They had both ordered something relatively small, and had finished quite quickly so they were just about to leave the shop when all of a sudden a strange man approached them.

The stranger was a tall thin man with long silverish hair that he'd pulled back into a low ponytail and sharp green eyes. He wore a checker printed button up shirt under a long dark coat which somehow served to make him appear like a cross between a young mafia boss and the head of a chess club. Needless to say this person was obviously suspicious.

"Have you seen a man around here? About my height, good looking, light hair, stylish clothes, condescending demeanor..." The man spoke in a cheery tone as he did various motions trying to describe the man he was looking for, "Have you seen anyone like that?"

Shiki shook her head and replied fairly quickly, "No, I haven't."

"What about you have you seen him?" The stranger turned to Neku.

Neku had the strangest feeling that the person was talking about Joshua even though the description didn't quite fit (for one Joshua wasn't quite that tall). He wondered if maybe this stranger was the guy that had been trying to kill him, or perhaps one of his subordinates. It couldn't be a coincidence that the guy had chosen to approach Neku to ask about Joshua, he probably knew that they had been in contact. Despite his suspicions Neku knew better than to say he'd seen him.

"Nope, haven't seen him," Neku replied with a shrug hoping to sound convincing.

However, the stranger didn't seem convinced. He leaned in close to Neku, looking him in the eyes.

There was a dark glint in his eyes as the stranger spoke again, the cheery tone in his voice having been completely replaced with a darker one, "Well if ya see 'im tell 'im dis 'I'm sick 'a jus' playin' hide 'n' seek, le's play somethin' else'. Tell 'im fer me, 'kay?"

Neku was taken aback by the stranger's sudden change, he stuttered a bit in reply, "um... Okay...?"

"Good. Well see you around then," The man smiled, returning to his cheery tone again. With nothing else to say he left Neku and Shiki with just those words.

"What a weird guy..." Neku muttered mostly to himself.

"You've got that right," Shiki replied, "Why'd he even ask us to give that guy a message, what are the chances that we're going to see that guy he was looking for anyway?"

Neku hesitated, wondering for a moment whether or not it would be a good idea to tell Shiki what was going on, and if he said anything how much should he say? If she got caught up in all of this it could turn out dangerous... but if she managed to figure out that he had been hiding it from her he'd be in serious trouble.

In the end it seemed like telling her would be for the best, "He's looking for Joshua."

"Joshua?" Shiki seemed surprised to be hearing that name again, "You mean that kid that turned out to be the composer?"

"Yeah him," Neku said with a nod.

Knowing who the man had been looking for only made more questions run through Shiki's mind, "but that man seemed to be describing someone older and why would he think we knew where he was and why would someone want to look for the composer anyway and..."

Neku knew that she wasn't going to quit rambling any time soon so he cut her off, "Joshua showed up at my house last night, he's probably still there now. Apparently another composer wants to take Shibuya from him, that might have been who that guy just now was."

Shiki could not help but voice her surprise, "Seriously?"


End file.
